Head Start programs facing federal budget cut

The massive federal budget cuts slated to take effect today could have a big impact on the littlest Northeast Pennsylvanians, with Head Start programs for preschoolers facing a 5.2 percent slice in federal funding.

Barring a last-minute deal, local Head Start programs would be forced to close facilities, eliminate services and trim the number of children they serve, Luzerne County Head Start Executive Director Lynn Evans Biga said.

"Given the cut, even at 5 percent, we will have to reduce the numbers of children we serve," Ms. Biga said Thursday in a telephone interview. "We won't close our doors on Monday, but we will have to have a plan for reducing service."

The federal budget cuts, designed as a mechanism to rein in government spending, would cut Head Start in Pennsylvania by $13.2 million, forcing 2,300 children from the program and costing 609 jobs, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

The office did not provide figures for how cuts would affect individual county Head Start programs, but Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-17, Moosic, said last week any reduction in services would be "a disaster." Official word on the cuts, Ms. Biga said, would come this afternoon from the Office of Head Start in Washington, D.C.

The Head Start program in Luzerne County currently serves 1,162 children from birth to age 5 at an average cost of $7,400 per child, Ms. Biga said. The program, which provides free school preparation services to children from low-income families, receives more than 90 percent of its funding from the federal government, Ms. Biga said.

Parents involved in the program often do not have the means to enroll their children in private preschools. Children left out or forced from the program due to the federal budget cuts will likely be less prepared for the rigors of public school, potentially impeding their educational progress for years, Ms. Biga said.

The children left out of the program, "will not be ready for kindergarten, will not have the opportunity to be with other children, will not eat nutritious meals that are provided through our Head Start program, will not have exposure to advanced vocabulary," Ms. Biga said.

Under the rules of sequestration, the cuts to the federal budget are "across the board," meaning lawmakers like Mr. Cartwright had no input on which programs to trim and which to fully fund.

Mr. Cartwright, in an interview last week, called that indiscriminate approach "foolishness" and the equivalent of "throwing out the baby with the bath water."

Ms. Biga viewed the cuts to Head Start similarly, citing statistics which showed a 7-to-1 return on investment for each dollar spent on the program.

Contact the writer: msisak@citizensvoice.com, @cvmikesisak on Twitter

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